Wednesday, July 19, 2017

What we do is what we do

So, you've never been to an Anime Hell show? Well, I slapped together a playlist of some of our more popular videos. When I say "popular", I mean stuff we've shown. This is--by no means--a complete list, but it might give you some a feel for what's in store for you if you come to one of the Texas shows.

Of course, no two shows are alike. We're always finding new things, pruning here, planting there, changing the order...

And it's not like this is some kind of DIY Anime Hell kit, even if you try to use it as such. You have to work with a convention to get a room, round up prizes, get some candy, be aware of your time limitations, buy some kazoos, heard some cats, sacrifice a black goat under a full moon, etc. The usual.

One thing I've always loved about the Texas shows is the audience participation. Contests! Sing-a-longs! Hell, even you guys just shouting random stuff from the dark. Our shows wouldn't be anything without you. Take away the audience and we're just...a playlist. We can't stay static because that kind of thing gets boring pretty quickly. Heck, if we play the same things all the time, why bother coming to a live show?

I was talking to Dave about this a while back. The Texas shows are so unlike any of the others due to the contests, and there was that whole thing with Danno dying in 2015, and maybe it's time to retire Anime Hell in Texas. Danno pretty much was Anime Hell and doing a show under that name almost feels like trying to make a marionette out of a corpse.

But there's still the audience. We still want to give you guys a good time and a place to have fun and cut loose and yell silly things at silly videos while we throw candy at you.

So, this year, our 17th at Anime Fest, we're going to retire the name "Anime Hell" for what we do in Texas. Like a jersey number, we're going to pack that away and try a new name that really reflects what we do.

We're going to officially become Otaku Hell.

And I think that better reflects how we do things. "Anime Hell" is something you watch, but "Otaku Hell" is something you are.

It's still a show of fun video, fun contests, and fun times. You're still going to laugh or recoil in horror or scratch your head and ask WTF but you're still going to be the best audience in the world.